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Here is a sampling of the recommendations I’ve offered in recent weeks. If you want to read these items as soon as I send them every Thursday morning, visit stltoday.com/newsletters and subscribe to the First Course.

(The price and availability of each dish is subject to change.)

Hot Chicken Curry Pizza at Masala Pizza STL

The boom of compelling new Indian restaurants in recent years includes a subcategory of spots featuring fusion dishes: Indian nachos and pasta, curry wraps and naan tacos. ²Ñ²¹²õ²¹±ô²¹Ìý±Ê¾±³ú³ú²¹Ìý³§°Õ³¢Â makes its approach clear in its name, though the restaurant itself is not so obvious. It operates inside Spice Market, an Indian grocery store in Chesterfield. (Its storefront is in the same shopping plaza as another Indian fusion joint, Tikka Tangy.)

The grocery store includes a few tables where you can eat, though carryout pizza seems to be the focus. I ordered my pizza online then decided to eat at one of those tables after I arrived to pick it up.

I went with the Hot Chicken Curry Pizza, which promised chicken, a “fiery� curry sauce and mozzarella cheese. The standard crust is soft and relatively thin — or, since you can also choose a “thin crust,� let’s say the standard crust is not especially puffy. (A gluten-free cauliflower crust is also available.) The curry sauce is indeed feisty, and I added chopped green chiles for extra punch, but a generous blanket of stretchy mozzarella cheese helped tamp down the heat.

The Hot Chicken Curry is one of six “signatureâ€� chicken pies, which by itself is reason enough to return to ²Ñ²¹²õ²¹±ô²¹Ìý±Ê¾±³ú³ú²¹Ìý³§°Õ³¢. As is customary at most Indian restaurants, traditional or fusion, there are also multiple vegetable options, including several pizzas with both paneer cheese and mozzarella.

WHERE: Spice Market, 13431 Olive Boulevard, Chesterfield MORE INFO:Ìý314-392-9794;Ìý³¾²¹²õ²¹±ô²¹±è¾±³ú³ú²¹²õ³Ù±ô.²õ±ç³Ü²¹°ù±ð.²õ¾±³Ù±ðÌýHOURS: Lunch and dinner daily

HOW MUCH: The Hot Chicken Curry Pizza is $20.99.

Sandwiches at Truck Norris Twisted Eats

Chuck Norris memes were already circulating widely when food trucks boomed across ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ at the beginning of last decade, so it’s surprising no one claimed the name Truck Norris until 2017. Then again, if anyone was fated to take that name, it was Truck Norris owner Todd Norris.

Unsurprisingly, Norris has retained the truck theme for his brick-and-mortar restaurant, Truck Norris Twisted Eats, which opened in February at Clayton and Clarkson roads in Ellisville. The menu will also be familiar to fans of Norris’ truck, with his signature egg rolls and tater tots-as-nachos Totchos.

I enjoyed those crisp tots drizzled with buffalo sauce as a side for my Chicken McFly sandwich. This isn’t so much “twisted� as smartly assembled: blackened grilled chicken with bacon, pepper jack cheese and housemade blackened ranch dressing. This last component sharpens the chicken’s own blackening seasoning with ranch’s distinctive tang.

A subtle sweetness defines the Tipsy Pig sandwich, a BLT with both bourbon-peach candied bacon and bourbon-peach mayonnaise. This is a fine BLT for early spring. I hope I can try it again in a few months with peak-summer tomatoes.

WHERE: 15856 Clayton Road, Ellisville MORE INFO: 314-988-2111;  HOURS: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday (closed Monday)

HOW MUCH: The Chicken McFly sandwich cost me $15.45, which included a side of tots. The Tipsy Pig cost $14.42 plus a $2.06 surcharge for adding a side of queso to the tots.

Lunch specials at Tatva Cafe, Thau Mukda

This is my favorite time of year as a restaurant critic — and not only because the farmers markets are opening and spring produce is arriving. My STL 100 is finished, freeing me to drive around the metro area, catching up on new restaurants.

While “dealsâ€� aren’t the driving force behind these weekly recommendations, my recent exploring in west ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County has found lunch specials at two restaurants worth your attention.

Tatva Cafe is a small new vegetarian Indian restaurant on Manchester Road in Ellisville. Tatva’s lunch combo gets you any two curries from the cafeteria-style buffet with rice, two pieces of paratha and pappadam for $7.77. The set-up might remind you of the nearby Curry Club in Chesterfield, though the portions here aren’t as generous.

For my lunch, I picked a vegetarian take on a classic tikka masala sauce and a rustic chickpea dish. Both curries delivered pungent, though not overwhelming, heat. The duo made for a complete meal, thanks to the rice, flatbread and pappadam, but if you want a more filling lunch, Tatva Cafe offers a thali lunch with five curries for $11.77.

WHERE 15801 Manchester Road, Ellisville MORE INFO 636-220-2138;  HOURS: Lunch and dinner daily

Thai Mukda opened in February on Clarkson Road in Chesterfield, two doors down from the original location of Black Salt and one shopping plaza over from the aforementioned Curry Club. Like Tatva Cafe, this is a small storefront, though it features a full menu and table service.

For lunch, Thai Mukda offers an array of its curries, stir-fries, fried rice and noodle dishes for $10.99, with your choice of chicken, pork, tofu or vegetables as the main ingredient. (Beef or shrimp are both available for a $2 surcharge.)

My red curry with chicken delivered tender meat and crisp vegetables in a sauce that led with creamy sweetness and finished with cutting spice. Medium on the restaurant’s heat scale (mild, medium, hot, very hot and “native Thai hot�) is noticeable, but not sweat-inducing. I will definitely scale up to hot on my next visit.

Your lunch special begins with a trio of appetizers: a small cup of citrusy tom yum soup, a crisp vegetable roll and a flattened, especially crisp version of crab Rangoon.

WHERE: 1713 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield MORE INFO: 636-530-1089;  HOURS: Lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday (closed Saturday)

Sandwiches and samosas at Brew Bites

Brew Bites, which opened last summer on the west end of the Delmar Loop, risks confusion. The brew in its name isn’t beer, which the restaurant doesn’t sell. You can order coffee and a few iced espresso drinks here, but these pale as an attraction compared to the bites.

Move past the name — which is inarguably catchy — and you find a counter-service sandwich spot open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (The breakfast fare, including bagel and biscuit sandwiches, is available all day.)

The Italian Supreme sandwich is a typical offering, a layered trio of salami, pepperoni and capicola. Most of the numerous options for customization are included in the price. Mine were straightforward: provolone, lettuce, tomato, vinegar and oil on toasted white sub bread. The sandwich delivered what I wanted, sharp with its cured meats and vinegar, properly dressed but not dripping oil, the toasted bread crunchy but not palate-shredding.

Study Brew Bites’ menu closely, and you’ll notice a couple of distinctive touches from owner Neha Barot. Among the many condiment options for your sandwich is tikka masala sauce. The selection of side dishes features cookies and muffins — and two plump, crisp samosas with bright green and tart red dipping sauces.

I’m not saying Samosas & Sammies would be a better name than Brew Bites, but that is the duo I’m suggesting here.

WHERE: 6662 Delmar Blvd., University City MORE INFO: 314-499-7000; brewbites.food HOURS: Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

HOW MUCH: A regular-sized Italian Supreme sandwich is $8.99. An order of two samosas is $5.99.

The Cherokee Cheesesteak at Good Strangers

Does Cherokee Street need more tacos? The answer is yes, of course. There are never enough tacos. ³Ò´Ç´Ç»åÌý³§³Ù°ù²¹²Ô²µ±ð°ù²õ stamps an exclamation point at the end of that “yes,â€� though. Its compact menu features breakfast tacos, including the irresistibly named Cherokee Cheesesteak.

³Ò´Ç´Ç»åÌý³§³Ù°ù²¹²Ô²µ±ð°ù²õ, which opened in February on the Gravois Park side of Cherokee west of South Jefferson Avenue, is a cafe, not a Mexican restaurant. The storefront is sprawling, by cafe standards, though the color scheme — dominated by a dusky orangish red on one side, a bluish green on the other — gives the space a warm, inviting feel.

³Ò´Ç´Ç»åÌý³§³Ù°ù²¹²Ô²µ±ð°ù²õ’ menu warns you that the breakfast tacos are available “’til we sell out.â€� Each premade taco is wrapped in foil and kept hot to order.

The Cherokee Cheesesteak taco would be appealing even by a less catchy name. The meat is smoky, tender beef brisket from Fourth City Barbecue, which was based out of the nearby Fortune Teller Bar until that establishment closed at the end of last year.

Provel gilds this brisket and a garnish of nopales. However you feel about Provel, this taco is another argument that pizza topping isn’t the best use of the divisive cheese.

WHERE: 2614 Cherokee Street MORE INFO:  HOURS: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily

HOW MUCH: The Cherokee Cheesesteak taco is $5.

Spaghetti limone at Napoli Kirkwood

The Pietoso family won’t stop. While I was showering  on their 2024 debut Napoli Bros. Pizza and Pasta, the owners of Cafe Napoli and its various satellites and spinoffs were opening yet another location, ±·²¹±è´Ç±ô¾±Ìý°­¾±°ù°ì·É´Ç´Ç»å.

As the name suggests, the new restaurant brings the model of the Clayton original, Napoli II in Town and Country and Napoli III in St. Charles to Kirkwood, where it occupies a sleekly elegant ground-floor space in the James development north of downtown.

Lunch at ±·²¹±è´Ç±ô¾±Ìý°­¾±°ù°ì·É´Ç´Ç»å is a welcome reprieve from contemporary dining’s slimmed down, convenience-first aesthetic. The restaurant isn’t fussy, but essentially the full menu is available, and you wouldn’t feel out of place visiting for a business meeting, a casual date or, in my case, a solo meal at the bar.

The lunch portion of ±·²¹±è´Ç±ô¾±Ìý°­¾±°ù°ì·É´Ç´Ç»å’s spaghetti limone isn’t as grand as the dinner version — the latter includes king crab as well as shrimp — but it makes for a light, yet satisfying meal, especially when paired with a salad or another first course.

Four plump, delicately cooked shrimp and a garnish of seasoned breadcrumbs top the spaghetti, but you will want to twirl each bite from the bottom of the dish up to maximize the bright, buttery sauce. Be sure to save some of the complimentary house bread for the sauce that remains when the noodles and shrimp are gone.

WHERE: 436 North Kirkwood Road, Kirkwood MORE INFO: 314-926-1411;  HOURS: Lunch and dinner daily

HOW MUCH: The lunch portion of spaghetti limone is $19.

Mochi doughnuts at Mochiatsu

´¡³ÙÌýMochiatsu, the doughnuts bounce. In your mouth, I mean. Don’t, like, throw them against the wall. You’ll be too busy eating them, besides.

Mochiatsu, which opened in August on Manchester Road at Highway 141 in Manchester is part of a small national chain. I don’t typically visit chains for this newsletter, and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ certainly boasts a wealth of locally owned doughnut shops, but Mochiatsu is worth an exception.

Here the specialty is mochi doughnuts, which are made with rice flour. The texture isn’t chewy, but it is noticeably more elastic than a yeasted doughnut. Bouncy was the first word that came to my mind.

Before you notice the mochi doughnuts’ texture, you will notice their shape: a ring of small spheres. You might also notice the range of flavors on display. The fruit options alone range from blueberry and strawberry shortcake to yuzu. The most distinctive in its color, with a gentle sweetness, is ube, or purple yam.

I especially dug the richer flavors: coffee (complete with a little cookie as garnish) and the brown sugar milk tea. Mochiatsu also features a full menu of actual milk teas, iced teas and other drinks. And if the mochi doughnuts aren’t bouncy enough for you, you can add a range of popping boba and jellies to your drink.

WHERE: 14248 Manchester Road, Suite A, Manchester MORE INFO: 636-220-2834;  HOURS: 7:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday

HOW MUCH: An order of three mochi doughnuts is $7.99.